I think it will add muscle. I guess I just have to prove it to you guys rather than keep saying it.
Little bit more muscle on the top photo and I would be fine, but if I can add more thats better, but speaking from being content some more muscle and thats fine
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Cool. Then check out the thread and see how the guy got there. Ask questions if you need. Or pick anyone else from this thread (or elsewhere) who’s physique you admire and see what they did. Ask them specific questions. If you show a genuine desire to learn, people are usually really generous with their time and knowledge.
Honestly, there’s plenty of people in this thread alone who absolutely know how to produce the results you want.
Hi guys. Hi OP.
I don’t have time to read 100% of this thread - it’s gotten unbelievably long, with pretty much the same wise words being repeated time and again.
All I have to add is that prior to a couple years ago, I was a lot like the OP except I was 31 and had been training off and on since 18. I was decently “fit” bit nobody would have called me strong, and I wasn’t particularly proud of what I’d accomplished physically. I can relate.
Somehow all these people recommending
*start a training log
*eat lots of meat and fewer carbs
*eat even more meat
*train the big barbell lifts bench, squat, deadlift
*Also train overhead press, pullups, power cleans, but not at the expense of the first 3
Eventually broke through to me and I started doing it. My transformation started with 5/3/1 BBB (in a free article on this site). Since then I’ve done other 5/3/1 stuff, and other programs from the site, and followed the beat of my own drum (OK to do AFTER you have learned what it’s like to follow a program, and have clearly defined goals).
Today, I’m not as strong as I want to be, but I know EXACTLY what I want to achieve in the next 6 months, and pretty well how I’m going to get there. And I’m much, much stronger (and more muscular, if you care about the mirror) that I was before as well.
I lift 3 times per week, one hour ish sessions, sometimes a 30-minute bonus session on a weekend.
I eat as much meat and eggs as I can, but I have the occasional english muffin too. And veggies sometimes.
You can check my log if you want to know more.
Edit to add: I also walk several miles per week (guessing 14 miles/wk average, but I don’t log it like I should. This is not essential to becoming strong but is good for your soul).
As @dagill2 said the path has been laid out here. You can follow it, and if you do you will achieve the desired outcome. I hope you do!
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So why are you here again?
P.S. You really really really don’t.
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I think you underestimate how difficult it can be to “look decent”. Especially in America.
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Compared to most Americans, shouldn’t be that hard…
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Yayyy I get my dose of entertainment for today.
That’s fair, but kind of proves my point: it’s clear conditions are not ideal in America to look decent.
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What are the barriers to a healthy diet in America?
Some of it is food access. Some of it is cost (meat and produce has suffered a lot of inflation in the last year). Most of it I believe is piss poor education about nutrition and the desire for food companies here to make the cheapest possible products using the worst ingredients (high fructose corn syrup is banned in many countries, but not here).
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I don’t have much to add to the good advice above. The only thing I do have to add is don’t underestimate how quickly something you aren’t that excited about doing can become tolerable and even enjoyable when you start seeing results. In other words, you might not be that fired up about a program or a change to your diet but if you force yourself to do it for several months, you’ll start to see the results and all of a sudden that aspect of the program or diet you didn’t like can become much easier to keep doing.
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I think you could probably do with being a bit more serious about the gym.
I mean, you have people who look like your literal dream body offering you concrete and precise advice on how to achieve your goals, so if you mean “mistake” in the sense of, this thread didn’t yield good information or offer you an avenue to success, then no, you didn’t make a mistake.
However, if by “mistake” you mean your calculated attempt to get someone on T-Nation to suggest steroids by baiting us with bloodwork numbers and claims of “trying everything”, which fell apart as soon as you were questioned, then yeah, that was probably a mistake.
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I can’t like this post enough.
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I’m not trying to make some argument that life is hard and we’re doomed to be fatasses. My original point was OP can’t live like everyone else, but try just a tiny bit (because he doesn’t want to be a pro bodybuilder) and end up looking “decent”. It’s going to take a little more
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Diet is very much dependant on genetics. I can eat like you do and remain pretty lean but I’d have to eat much more than you or even the average trainee to gain weight. You can’t.
Results should dictate your actions.
Fuck, I have a bottle of Nutella beside my bed and every time I wake up in the middle of the night feeling a little peckish, I eat a couple of spoonfuls of it. That’s how much crap I need to eat when I’m gaining. I don’t care if others can’t do this because my own results show that I can get away with it. You obviously can’t. Change what you’re doing. You need to find what works FOR YOU. Even if you have to eat 100% clean (of course you most likely don’t), if you see good, measurable results, you have to bite the bullet and do it if this shit is important to you.
Look, even if you are an IFBB PRO bodybuilder, which would make you part of the 1% of the 1% in terms of genetics (which includes factors like natural leanness and muscle gain to drug response and tolerance), do you see any of them recommending eating crap especially nearing contest prep? Go watch Ronnie Coleman eating only grits for breakfast during contest prep lol. A fucking bigass bowl of them. How many people can handle shit like that in the long term? I would have long given up competing if I were him and had his genetics. Now that they have to maintain a certain level of bodycomp year round for YouTube videos and photoshoots and despite having certain drugs that make them look “dry” and vascular, I doubt they’re eating much crap in the off seasons either.
As for training, don’t do that “reverse pyramid” shit you’ve been doing. Nobody does that.
The reason why you’re being told to follow a program to the letter from an established author is so you pick up certain PRINCIPLES of lifting. The way you described your training shows that you don’t really understand how to lift. Your understanding of diets inevitably comes into question too.
Program like Deep Water or Building the Monolith include diets that work even for people more prone to fat gain. I gave you certain guidelines by tweaking your current program so you can adopt a different mindset more easily. @T3hPwnisher is someone who gains fat easily but he can stay pretty damn lean because he has his diet figured out. If he’s recommending something like Deep Water, I’d do it if I were you.
EDIT:
Didn’t read your full reply:
You see? You are doing things in extremes. I don’t try to gain 2kg of muscle a week even if I’m hypothetically on roids because it’s not fucking possible when you exclude the temporary “gains” from water retention and intramuscular fluid.
Why is it surprising that you keep swinging between overbulking and overcutting? You get too fat without building much muscle so you’re still weak. Then you cut and lose what little muscle you’ve built.
It’s a silly cycle you’re caught up in and I doubt you even know enough of this shit to figure out what you’re actually doing wrong.
At this point, I’d suggest that you just forget EVERYTHING you THINK you know about lifting and eating. Go create a log and ask for help. This forum is for people seeking general advice and people post stuff that other noobs reading it can benefit from now or in the future, which is why I bothered to post some general stuff. You want advice specific to your current situation, go create a log. You don’t just need general stuff. You need a complete overhaul of your current methods.
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You look sick, dude. Back before I had any idea what I was doing, I’d have killed for someone like you to just appear out of thin air, offering a free-of-charge customized meal plan. Just typing that out is hilarious, because it seems like such an unrealistic thing to expect as a struggling trainee.
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So thats not just me?
I was looking at his log and most recent pic update on results of his last training cycle going “Man, that’s some real life super hero results.”.
Freakin lats, delts and pects went kaboom!
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Wow, I appreciate the kind words! There’s so many guys far more jacked and far stronger than I on these forums, but I’m pretty confident in managing diet and a tedious recomp. Like OP my gene pool is laden with diabetes and obesity, so this felt like someone I could really help . If I ate “intuitively” I’d be 240lb easily within 6 months. I can’t help someone that’s not open to evolving their approach though.
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If you’re talking about me, I’m getting some serious imposter syndrome here haha. I appreciate the positive feedback!
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